Return From Grace
by Dream Weaver 85
Summary: If only Grace had been a few minutes longer... What might an infirmary visit from Daniel have been like? What would the aftermath have been like? Read and find out! Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed! Your patience is appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I know it's been done before, but here's my contribution to the world of post-Grace fics. This story is also my way of getting more Daniel-Sam friendship out of the later seasons. :D

**Return from Grace**

"Hey," Daniel greeted softly from the doorway.

"Hey yourself," Sam replied, gingerly pushing herself off the bed to sit upright and wincing when the movement sent stabs of pain through her head.

Holding out her arms and shooting Daniel an expectant look, Sam waited impatiently for him to cross the infirmary to her bedside. The instant he was within reach, she found herself wrapped up in one of the tightest hugs she'd ever gotten in her entire life. Sighing, she rested her head on his shoulder and savoured the simple fact that she was home. A little worse for the wear, for sure, but home nonetheless.

"You have _got_ to stop doing this to us," Daniel murmured, rubbing big circles on her back.

"I know," she replied snuggling into his warm body. "But it's not like I book these things into my weekly schedule."

"I know. How's the head?" he asked, turning his face into her hair and pressing a kiss against the side of her head, careful to avoid the giant bump from where she'd hit it.

"Sore," she answered honestly. "The painkillers Janet has me on are taking the edge off, but only just."

"Do you want me to get someone in here?" Daniel asked, pulling back and studying her in concern. He knew how much pain she had to be in if she was bothering to mention it to anyone – usually it took an order from Jack and several minutes of fighting back and forth before she would admit that she was experiencing even the slightest amount of discomfort.

"No," she attempted to shake her head for emphasis but abandoned that idea as the pain spiked again, "Just stay with me?" she asked hopefully.

Daniel studied her silently for another few moments before deciding the pain probably wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Grasping her hand in his and twining their fingers together, he frowned at the death grip she immediately clamped around his hand. Rubbing his thumb back and forth over the back of her hand, he decided that there was _definitely_ something going on with his friend. Although Sam was never afraid to touch her teammates, she didn't make a habit of being clingy.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" he asked, giving her an opening.

"Can we not talk about it right now?" she replied, shooting him her best pleading look.

"Okay, but I'm here if you need to talk about it," Daniel reminded gently. "Do you need anything?"

"Can you hold me for a while?" she asked, using her best pleading look again. "Please?"

Without another word, Daniel released her hand and pulled her into a second hug in less than five minutes. This confirmed his suspicion – something was up. A clingy, asking to be held Sam was completely new territory for him. Even in the aftermath of her possession by Jolinar, she had never asked to be held, preferring to accept the spontaneous hugs offered by her teammates whenever she looked like she needed one. At the time and for years after, he'd been sure that was the lowest point he would ever see her at, but clearly he'd been wrong. Something had happened on the Prometheus that had shaken Sam even worse than Jolinar had and _that_ was a scary thought. Knowing she would clam up if he pushed too hard, Daniel opted for silence and simply held her.

"I need to get out of here Daniel," she murmured long minutes later.

"Sam, Janet's keeping you in for _at least_ a few days. That was a bad concussion that you ignored for _four_ days. You're lucky to be sitting here right now," he retorted bluntly.

"I can't be here Daniel, please don't make me stay here tonight," she begged.

Even though he couldn't see her face, he could hear tears choking her voice. _God, Sam, what happened on that ship?_ he wondered. A crying, begging Sam Carter was something that he was totally unprepared for, even after seven years of friendship and he wasn't sure he even wanted to know what could reduce her to such a state.

"Sam, you aren't ready to leave yet. You're still on some heavy duty painkillers and somebody needs to be watching you to make sure you don't get worse," he reasoned patiently.

"I can't wake up alone, Daniel," she whispered brokenly. "On the Prometheus I woke up alone so many times… Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I need to know that this was real. I need to know that I'm really home."

"I _can't_ break you out of here, Sam. Janet would kill me, Jack would have a heart attack when he comes to check on you tomorrow morning and Teal'c… Well he'd raise an eyebrow and tell me it was a bad idea." It broke his heart to tell her "no", and he knew that she knew that if she asked many more times, he would give in. "I'll sit with you tonight holding your hand and when you wake up in the morning, I'll still be right here," he compromised.

"Please Daniel," she sniffed, pulling back to look at him. "Let me go to my quarters and stay there with me."

"How is that different from staying with you in the infirmary?" he questioned, genuinely confused.

"I don't need you to hold my hand, I need you to hold _me_, and I don't want everyone on base to see that," she finally confessed, studiously avoiding his worried gaze.

"What happened on the Prometheus, Sam?" Daniel asked, leaning forward to rest his forehead against her's. "Something's going on with you and I _want _to help, but I have _no_ idea what you need from me."

"You can help by holding me," she retorted, side stepping his question. Seeing exasperation flash across his face, she relented. "I kept hallucinating that you and the Colonel and Teal'c and my dad were there. You were all talking to me and trying to help. Sometimes I'd wake up and one of you would be there… So many times I thought that you'd found me and that we were going home, but it always turned out that you weren't really there. I need you to hold me, so that when I wake up in the morning, I feel you and I know I'm not still on the ship. Daniel, please… Don't make me wake up alone."

"There's still something you're not telling me," Daniel stated, eyeing her carefully. "But for now, that's good enough. I'll be back in ten minutes to sneak you out of here. However, if anything happens to you because I let you talk me into this, so help me…" he rose, letting the threat trail off.

"Promise you'll come back?" Sam asked uncertainly, gripping his hand again.

This time, Daniel understood that her constant need for contact was a way of clinging to reality. She'd been hallucinating for days, constantly believing she'd been rescued only to realize she was still stranded in the middle of nowhere. Now that she was home, every time she awoke, she anticipated that disappointment all over again and the only way to ensure what she was seeing was real was through touch. Hallucinations couldn't touch her, but real flesh and blood people could and that was why she was so desperate for contact. In light of this, Daniel couldn't blame her for hanging off of him.

Giving her hand a tight squeeze, he dropped a kiss on the top of her head and murmured, "Cross my heart," before working his hand free and striding quickly out of the infirmary.

Sam spent every second that he was gone watching the clock across from her bed. Although it felt like forever, it was only eight minutes and forty-seven seconds later that Daniel returned. As soon as he came into sight, she reached out for his hand.

"I promised I'd be back, Sam," he reminded, seeing her obvious relief that he'd kept his word. Ignoring the hand seeking his out, he strode to her bedside and scooped her off the mattress in one easy move. "Before you argue, you have a massive concussion and you're lucky I'm helping you get out of here. This goes completely against my better judgement, however I'm doing it anyway because I think it really is best for you. _But_ I absolutely draw the line at letting you walk and nothing you say or do is going to change my mind, so either I carry you or you stay here."

"Fine," Sam grudgingly acquiesced. Deciding to make the best of the situation, she cuddled up to Daniel as much as she could and relished the fact that he most certainly was real.

Cradling her close, Daniel quickly left the infirmary and walked briskly towards the elevator. It wasn't exactly a secret that Sam had been injured on the Prometheus, and most people on base knew that she was supposed to be in the infirmary for a few days. The last thing he needed was for someone to spot him essentially kidnapping Sam from Janet's care, particularly someone like Ferretti who would kick both of their asses back to the infirmary and have Jack on the phone in about two seconds flat.

"Janet really is going to kill me, you know," Daniel said softly as the elevator pinged open. He cringed at the noise in the otherwise silent corridor. _Oh yes_, Daniel thought to himself, _this is definitely the dumbest thing I've done in a while. We are _so_ going to get caught. _Once inside, he punched the button for the level his quarters were on and frantically tapped the door close button, all the while precariously balancing Sam with one arm and his knee.

"You're safe – Hippocratic oath, remember?" Sam said with amusement.

"You're right," Daniel conceeded dejectedly. "She'll just put in a request with Jack and he'll kill me on her behalf. Then they'll put me in a sarcophagus and bring me back so Jack can have a turn for himself. You _so_ owe me one,"

"Thank you," she said seriously. "I know you think this is the stupidest idea I've ever had, but I really do need this."

"I know you do," he replied as the doors opened with another loud ping that echoed through the corridor and made him wince. "That's why I'm doing this for you tonight. Tomorrow, however, I want you to tell me what else happened on board the Prometheus," he warned gently, hurrying down the hall to his quarters. At this point, he was _really_ hoping all the security personnel on duty tonight were too distracted by something going on in another corridor to pay any attention to his attempts to slip past all the security cameras between the infirmary and his quarters.

"Tomorrow," Sam promised as they reached their destination.

Daniel was relieved he'd had the foresight to come down and open the door before bringing Sam down. He was absolutely positive that there was no way he could have balanced her and opened the door at the same time. Striding into the room, he deposited her gently on the bed and then hurried to shut the door, lest someone walk past and notice that a certain infirmary-ridden air force major was currently occupying the quarters of one totally whipped archaeologist.

"Uh, Daniel," Sam began uncertainly, "since when is there a double bed in here?"

"Since about fifteen minutes ago when I stole the mattresses from your quarters," he replied, turning out the overhead light so the room was bathed in the dim glow from the bedside lamp. "Do you have any idea how hard _that_ was to pull off?"

"Why did you even try?" Sam asked, lying back.

"Because as much as I'm going to regret busting you out come morning, I'll regret it even more if you fall out of bed and bang your head on something else," Daniel explained, sitting on the edge of the bed and untying his boots.

"I'm sorry that you're going to get into trouble because of me," Sam said apologetically, watching him remove his glasses.

"Don't be, I could have said no," Daniel lied glibly, knowing that Sam knew he could never say no to her. Leaning over, he turned off the lamp, plunging the room into total darkness. He swung his legs up onto the bed and pulled the sheets up over both of them. Reaching out blindly, he mentally crossed his fingers that his hand would fall somewhere she wouldn't kick his ass for touching. He barely managed to stifle a sigh of relief when he made contact with her shoulder.

"I knew you wouldn't," she whispered confidently, rolling onto her side facing him and cuddling up against his side.

"Get some sleep now, Sam," he advised, curling his arm around her waist and pulling her tighter against his side. "We'll talk in the morning,"

"Okay… Love you," she murmured sleepily, unable to stay awake much longer anyway.

"I love you too," he responded, turning his head to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Listening to the change in Sam's breathing as she drifted off, Daniel felt the remaining tension of yet another near miss drain away. Although it had been another close call, she'd still walked away from it somehow and that was what he forced himself to focus on. The quiet sounds of her breathing went a long way in calming his frayed nerves. Now that he wasn't being bombarded with images of Sam dead or dying every time he closed his eyes, he could give in to his body's demands for sleep and it wasn't long before he joined her in slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This story was supposed to be a one-shot, but enough people asked for more that I felt bad leaving them hanging. So here it is, chapter two! This is un-beta-ed, so any and all mistakes are mine and mine alone, but I only wrote it this morning, so go easy on me! I'm not sure that I like this second chapter as much as I liked the first, so feedback is extremely welcome! I've also got a third chapter started, so feedback can be incorporated into it… (hint hint!)

Daniel jerked awake with a start, unsure what had woken him. Lying still, he listened carefully and waited. Only a few seconds passed before he heard a quiet whimper escape the woman asleep in his arms, and he immediately knew that this sound had been responsible for waking him. Raising himself up on one elbow, he eased one arm free of the tight hold he had on her and gently stroked a hand through Sam's hair. Ever the soldier, the light touch was enough to wake her, her eyes flying open and immediately searching for his face through the darkness.

"Daniel?" She murmured sleepily, wondering why he'd woken her.

"Hey," he greeted, smiling gently at her, "Everything okay?"

"Mm… Why did you wake me up?"

"Just checking on you, head injury, remember?" he lied. Years of experience dealing with Sam had taught Daniel that the best way to get her to talk was to let her think it was her own idea. He would stay here for the rest of the night if he had to, but he was determined to find out what was bothering her.

"I'm okay, the painkillers haven't even worn off yet," Sam replied, grateful for that fact. Stubborn as she could be, Sam would be the first to admit that once the painkillers _did_ wear off, she would have no choice but to return to the infirmary immediately. The pain in her head was simply too much to tolerate when she didn't have to.

"That's good," Daniel replied, lying back down and stroking his fingers through her hair again as she settled herself against his warm body. "You can go back to sleep if you want," he added.

Sam stayed quiet, mulling over things in silence. She was tired, yes, but she'd promised Daniel that she'd tell him everything that had happened on the Prometheus. Weighing the two, Sam decided that she would rather get the sure to be awkward conversation out of the way sooner rather than later. Gathering her thoughts bought her another few minutes of silence, but all too soon she was out of excuses and she could no longer justify keeping Daniel waiting.

"When I saw my dad on the Prometheus, the hallucination of my dad, I mean, he didn't tell me how to save myself," Sam began, already flustered by the way the conversation was going. "He told me about his relationship with my mom, and how, even knowing that she would die, if he could go back in time and do it all over again, he wouldn't change a thing,"

"He loved her," Daniel said simply, as though that explained everything.

"He said I was always alone," Sam blurted out, blushing as she abandoned all her blueprints for how this discussion should go. "And that I wasn't loved,"

"That's ridiculous, Sam," Daniel admonished gently. "Teal'c, Jack and I love you, and so do Janet and Cassie…"

"Not the way he meant," she interrupted. "And years ago, you told me I'd never really known what love was. You were right, you both were. I've never been loved the way my dad loved my mom, or you loved Sha're. I've been loved as a daughter and a sister and a friend, but that's it. Not that that's not great, because it is," Sam added hastily, knowing that Daniel loved her as both a friend and a sister and not wanting him to think she was belittling how much that really meant.

"But it's not enough," Daniel said knowingly, resting his hand on her cheek and gently stroking her skin with his thumb. Taking a deep breath, Daniel tried to undo some of the damage his cruel words had done all those years ago. "Sam, when I said that to you, I was in withdrawal. I said things to you and the others that I knew would hurt you because I was trying to push you away. In my mind, you all were standing between me and the next fix, and if I could just hurt you all enough, I would be able to get back to Shyla and the sarcophagus. I didn't mean it when I told you that you'd never been loved."

"But you were right, I haven't been," Sam argued, blinking back the tears that stung her eyes. "The only real relationship I've ever had was with Jonas, and that was never really anything more than something to drive dad crazy. We didn't love each other, we were just using one another."

"Sam," Daniel, began softly, feeling telltale wetness against the hand resting on her cheek, "Jonas wasn't…"

"He was," she argued, "I was his trophy girlfriend, an accessory to show off to the brass at official functions. Maybe even a connection to help him get the next promotion. Not that I was much better than he was; he was everything my father didn't want for me, so I stayed with him and even got engaged to him, because I wanted to get back at dad. It was a relationship of convenience, not love or even affection," she sniffed. She hadn't planned on crying, and it definitely wasn't helping her headache, but it felt so cathartic to be letting the tears fall that she didn't even try to stop them.

"I know what love is supposed to feel like, Daniel, and I've never felt it. The way Jolinar felt for Martouf, I can remember that, remember _feeling_ that. I can remember feeling like my whole world was wrapped up in him, like I needed him like I need air, but only the part of me that's Jolinar has ever felt that. Me, Samantha Carter, I've never felt that, not even close. And the worst part is, if I didn't have Jolinar's memories of what real love like that feels like, I wouldn't even know what I was missing. I wouldn't even know I was missing it," she finished, more tears rolling down her cheeks.

Not knowing what he could possibly say that wouldn't sound trite in light of Sam's heartfelt words, Daniel simply settled for holding her close and stroking her hair while she cried. Though it felt like forever, Daniel knew it only seemed like Sam had been crying for so long because he hated to see her upset. Eventually, she settled and began taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Daniel took the opportunity to pull away from her just enough to wipe at the tears left on her cheeks and surreptitiously study her face for any sign that her crying jag had caused the pain in her head to reach an unbearable level. Finding no such trace, Daniel settled her head back against his chest and started rubbing slow, soothing circles on her back.

"What can we do to change things?" Daniel asked softly. "We know that you're unhappy and we know why, so what are we going to do to change it?"

"I don't know," she sniffed, snuggling into the warm hug he held her in.

"We're both smart people, between the two of us, we've got to be able to come up with something," Daniel said, only half-joking. "You deserve to be happy."

"Well, I guess I could start leaving the base more often," Sam said hesitantly, not sure why she didn't feel more uncomfortable lying in bed with Daniel, strategically planning how to get herself a love life.

"That's good," Daniel encouraged, glad to see that she was going along with it. "And I suppose that Jack, Teal'c and I could stop looming over you, looking scary and intimidating, when we go out for team nights. We don't _have_ to glare at every guy that tries to talk to you," but we probably will, Daniel mentally added, acknowledging that he was just as bad as the others when it came to being overprotective of Sam.

Biting back a smile at that, Sam's thoughts unwittingly followed Daniel's. At work, the rest of SG-1 treated her as "one of the guys", but off-duty was an entirely different story. Daniel's description didn't even begin to cover their behaviour on team nights out. Instead "looking like we'll kill any guy who happens to notice you're a woman" would be a more accurate descriptor.

"Janet has some friends that she's been wanting to set me up with," Sam offered. "And Mark mentioned someone a few months ago…"

"That seems like a pretty good start, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed with a smile. "Thanks Daniel. I'm sorry I kept you up in the middle of the night with this."

"_I_ woke _you_ up, so I can't complain. Besides, I want to help. You _do_ deserve to be happy," he repeated, giving her a gentle squeeze.

"I'm not _un_happy," Sam clarified, "I'm just…"

"… Content," Daniel said understandingly, unknowingly reiterating what her father had told her on the Prometheus. "But that's not good enough Sam, not for you. You deserve more."

Breathing a happy little sigh, Sam closed her eyes and let her body begin to relax. Now that she had gotten her insecurities off her chest and, better yet, formulated a plan to address them, her exhausted body welcomed the gentle tug of sleep.

"Go back to sleep now Sam, " Daniel advised, knowing she was drifting off as he spoke. "It's late enough now that I won't need to wake you again before morning, so you can just sleep through the rest of the night."

An incomprehensible murmur was the only response he received, and he couldn't help but smile. Lying still so as not to disturb her, Daniel continued to run her back gently. Thinking back to their plan to help Sam find someone who could make her happy, Daniel decided that maybe it was time he came up with a plan of his own. After all, Sam wasn't the only one who deserved to be happy.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the delay! I started my internship this week, so things have been a bit hectic the last few days. Nevertheless, here's the third chapter of Return From Grace, as promised. Forgive any spelling mistakes – it's been a long day and this hasn't been betaed. This chapter is a combination of ideas pulled out of my own imagination, and those taken from bluecatdevil's review of the first chapter. Now that I've finished chapter three, it seems like there needs to be _at least_ a chapter four to wrap things up… My one-shot is out of control: )

"Good morning," Janet greeted her staff with a smile, receiving a chorus of rather suspiciously cheery sounding "good morning"s in return. Dismissing the warning bells going off in her head, she made a beeline for her office, intending to drop off her morning coffee before making rounds to see her patients.

Only a handful of infirmary beds were occupied this morning – Sergeant Siler was being treated for yet another series of electrical burns, two members of SG-17 had been kept overnight for observation after taking a tumble down a 50 foot drop on their last mission, and Sam was still under observation after suffering a bad concussion while onboard the Prometheus. With it being a weekend, and therefore very few SGC personnel being off-world, Janet was anticipating a quiet few days, disturbed only by visitors coming to see her patients. With any luck, Janet figured she'd be able to leave early and spend some extra time with Cassandra.

Entering her office, Janet groped blindly through the darkness, searching for the light switch. As the fluorescent light flickered on overhead, Janet placed her coffee on the desk and booted up her computer. Grabbing her clipboard and the medical files for her four patients, she turned to leave, only to come face to face with one of her nurses.

"Doctor Frasier," Beth Alman began nervously, glancing over her shoulder at her fellow nurses, silently urging her to spit it out, "At some point last night… It wasn't that no one was watching ma'am…"

"What is it Beth?" Janet asked worriedly. Surely nothing had happened over night? None of her patients were that poorly off, medically speaking, and she would have been woken up by the base alarm if anyone had come back from off-world last night.

"Colonel O'Neill did it again," Beth blurted out, blushing deeply.

"That man…" Janet sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "Thanks Beth," she added, doing a quick 180 and reaching for the phone on the corner of her desk.

Knowing full well what was coming, Beth beat a hasty retreat. She had learned long ago that it was better for Janet and Jack to have this particular debate without an audience.

Punching in the number she'd been forced to dial way too many times before, Janet waited impatiently for Jack to pick up. If they'd had this conversation once, they'd had it a hundred times, yet it seemed that the message still hadn't sunk in. After countless rings, owing, no doubt, to the fact that he had ignored her instructions to rest the entire time the Prometheus had been missing, the receiver on the other end of the line was finally picked up, and an incomprehensible grumble met her ears.

"Colonel, the next time you decide to 'liberate' one of my patients from the infirmary, _I'm_ going to liberate the biggest needle I can find and shove it so far…" she began angrily.

"Huh?" Jack interrupted sleepily, his over-tired brain confused about why the woman who, not 24 hours ago had been nagging him to get some sleep, was now waking him up at the ungodly hour of… Seven o'clock? He was _so_ getting too old for this.

"You need to get Sam back here right away," she replied, taking pity on him despite the fact that she was still annoyed. "Team night could have waited another few days, sir," she added pointedly, ready to debate the issue yet again.

It took Jack a few seconds to process Janet's words, but once he had, he felt fully awake. Sitting up and reaching out blindly for the BDUs he'd left on the floor the night before, Jack pre-empted her well-rehearsed, perfectly rational argument: "Doc, I didn't spring Carter last night."

"What?" Janet asked, concerned but hoping she'd misheard.

"I didn't spring Carter last night," Jack repeated. "I left a little after eight last night, and she was still in bed, asleep."

"Sam wouldn't just get up and wander away…"

"… Doc, if even _I _wouldn't help her escape, you can bet no one else would. Not with such a bad head injury…"

"Oh hell," they sighed together.

WHYOHWHYCAN'TIPUTLINEBREAKSINMYSTORY?

Trying to look casual, Janet walked briskly through the base, surreptitiously peeking into as many rooms as possible in the hopes of spotting Sam in one of them. Not usually one to succumb to paranoia, Janet couldn't shake the feeling that absolutely everyone she passed was watching her. It never occurred to her that they_ were_ watching her, simply because she was rarely seen outside of the infirmary, the commissary or the briefing room unless she was rushing off to a medical emergency. Instead, she was sure that everyone knew she was looking for her bed-ridden, informal third-in-command of the base, genius, gate expert, and, unfortunately, missing patient. _I am_ so _getting in trouble for this,_ thought Janet dejectedly.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Janet sighed, mentally labeling the level a bust, and headed for the stairs. After searching the science labs, the locker room, the commissary and her on-base quarters, Janet and Jack had been forced to concede that Sam had well and truly disappeared. Having exhausted all of Sam's usual haunts, they'd agreed to split the remainder of the base between the two of them, Janet taking the upper levels, Jack searching the lower levels. They hadn't planned any further ahead than that, because failing to find Sam after this would mean that she had managed to sneak off base and they would no longer be able to hide the fact that she was AWOL from General Hammond.

Wrenching open the door to the stairwell, Janet made a mental note to ask Daniel if he ever felt the bizarre urge to start humming the _Mission Impossible_ theme while sneaking around on covert missions.

WHYOHWHYCAN'TIPUTLINEBREAKSINMYSTORY?

_If I were a super genius, where would I be?_ Jack thought to himself as he casually perused the rooms off the corridor he was meandering through.

The all too familiar sensation of worry gnawing at his gut was an unpleasant distraction in his search for his missing 2IC. At this point, Jack was wishing he _had_ broken her out of the infirmary. If he had, he would at least know that she was okay. As things stood right now, neither he nor Janet could rule out the possibility that Sam's head injury hadn't been worse than they'd originally thought. Or that she hadn't wandered off, disoriented, and passed out…

Nodding at a group of passing MPs, Jack sighed and headed for the stairs, giving up on this level too. He had just one more level to search before meeting up with Janet, and, as with everywhere he had searched so far, Jack hoped this would be the one where he finally found Sam.

WHYOHWHYCAN'TIPUTLINEBREAKSINMYSTORY?

Reaching the top of the stairs, Janet opened the door and stepped out on to level 15. Jack was already waiting for her, leaning casually, for all intents and purposes, against the wall.

"Are we sure that there was nothing else wrong with her?" Jack asked for the tenth time. "She hasn't been compromised?"

"She hasn't been compromised," Janet sighed wearily. "But that doesn't mean she isn't a threat to security. If she's confused or disoriented, she could let something slip accidentally. Or someone could decide she needs medical attention, in which case the naquadah in her blood…"

"… Speaks for itself." Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed heavily before making his decision. "Let's go round up Daniel and Teal'c, then go see Hammond about looking for her off-base."

"Should we check with the front gate again? Maybe she tried to sign out?'

"The first time we tried that, I ordered them to get in touch with me if she tried to leave. That's not the type of thing they just forget," Jack reminded, irritably.

"Sorry sir," Janet apologized, knowing that it had been a stupid question, but wanting to put off a visit to General Hammond for as long as possible.

"Me too," he added sincerely. Janet was just as worried as he was, and he knew it wasn't fair of him to take his frustration with the situation out on her. Pushing off the wall, Jack headed towards the elevator, not looking forward to the rest of his morning.

Janet fell into step beside him, having to take two strides to match each one of his. The corridors were more crowded now, and the pair were earning some strange glances from passing personnel. Janet still attributed it to everyone knowing she'd lost Sam, but a stolen look at Jack showed that he was, at least outwardly, unbothered by the attention of those around them.

"When we're in with Hammond," Jack spoke suddenly, making Janet jump despite the low volume at which he spoke, "It was my call to search the base first,"

"Sir, I take full responsibility…" Janet argued, glancing around furtively to ensure that they could not be overheard.

"Janet, if I didn't have a reputation for breaking my team out of the infirmary, your nurses would have raised the alarm last night, found her right away, and none of this would be happening. Besides, what's one more black mark on my file?" he added glibly. "I'm ordering you to pass the blame on to me."

"You can't…"

"I just did," Jack interrupted, speeding up even more and effectively ending the argument as the distance between them increased.

WHYOHWHYCAN'TIPUTLINEBREAKSINMYSTORY?

Jack rapped sharply on the door, then shoved his hands inside his pockets so that he couldn't just burst into the room and drag Daniel out of bed. Jack was just beginning to think he would need to knock again, when he heard a muffled bang from inside the room. He couldn't help but grin, knowing that Daniel would have an even harder time than he himself had had, getting up and going without coffee.

When the door was thrown open, Jack rocked back on his heels and prepared to drop the bombshell that had completely ruined his own morning.

"Daniel, Carter's… In bed with you?!?!?!" he cried incredulously, getting a look into Daniel's quarters as the sleepy archaeologist leaned against the door.

Sure enough, there, lying on the double bed – double bed?! – was a tousled blonde head that Jack would recognize anywhere.

"Wha..?" Daniel croaked sleepily, blinking rapidly in the harsh lighting of the hallway.

"Carter's in bed with you!" Jack repeated, this time sounding relieved.

"We slept together," Daniel replied, crossing his arms over his chest and hugging himself. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to crawl back into his nice warm bed and sleep for another few hours. He could see absolutely no reason why this conversation couldn't wait until he was fully conscious.

"You _slept_ together?" snapped Jack, glaring at Daniel in disbelief.

"Sam was upset last night," Daniel shrugged, slowly starting to wake up. "So I brought her back here…"

"And _slept_ with her?!?!?!"

Daniel stared at Jack, dumbfounded as to why he would be so worked up about it. He'd expected Jack to be angry about him busting Sam out of the infirmary, but Jack mostly seemed angry that Sam had spent last night in Daniel's quarters. Mentally rewinding back to the beginning of the conversation, Daniel blushed furiously, suddenly realizing what Jack's problem was.

"NO! We didn't _sleep_ together, sleep together, we just _slept_ together," Daniel corrected at the exact moment that Colonel Reynolds walked by. The other man simply raised an eyebrow at Jack and Daniel before continuing on down the corridor.

"What?"

"What?"

"Daniel…"

"Jack…"

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"That!"

"This?"

"Yes!"

"What?"

"What?"

Jack sighed heavily as yet another classic Jack-Daniel exchange concluded, leaving both men confused about what had just transpired. "How is 'sleeping' with her different from '_sleeping_ sleeping' with her?" he asked, hoping to get the conversation back on track.

"Well, the former involves us falling asleep, and the latter involves… Other stuff. That I wouldn't do with Sam. Ever. In a million years. Or longer." Daniel explained, shuddering at the very idea. It was just so _wrong_!

"Oh," Jack replied, looking away from Daniel and trying to get the idea out of his head. Now that he'd stopped to think about it, Daniel and Sam like _that_ was so completely and utterly bizarre that he couldn't figure out what had possessed him to contemplate the possibility in the first place.

"Well, Frasier and I have just spent the better part of the morning slinking through the base on a Carter-hunt, imagining a thousand and one horrible things that could have happened to her, running around severely concussed and all alone…"

"Sorry Jack," Daniel interrupted, the apology carrying a weight of sincerity that let Jack know the younger man had never expected to get away with the breakout. "I'm sorry for making you and Janet worry, but Sam needed me last night, and I won't apologize for being there for her."

Smiling slightly at that, Jack replied, "I don't expect you to. But seriously Daniel, next time couldn't you at least leave a note? Or call if you kids are going to be out past Carter's curfew?"

"Sorry Dad," Daniel retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Help me get Carter back to the infirmary and all will be forgiven," Jack smirked. "I'm still docking your allowance though,"

Stepping back into the room, Daniel returned to the bed. Wrapping the blankets securely around Sam, he scooped her up off the bed and cradled her sleeping form gently against his chest.

"You okay with her?" Jack asked softly, following Daniel into the room so he could pick up the archaeologist's glasses.

"We're good," Daniel replied, nodding for Jack to precede him out the door. "How mad is Janet right now?" he asked worriedly as he stepped out into the hall.

"She's not mad, just worried," Jack assured, closing the door behind them. Falling into step beside Daniel, he couldn't resist adding: "Mind you, that will probably change once she finds out you Carter-napped her patient."

Daniel groaned at that. He'd _known_ he was going to regret busting Sam out once Jack and Janet were through with him.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter of Return From Grace!!! Seriously people, I mean it this time: P Be warned that there is a bit in this chapter that's slightly SJ, but no more than was implied in the episode. What SJ there is falls in line with how the rest of S7 and S8 played out, so it's not over the top fluff. Anywho, on with the show and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Thanks for your endless patience with me, your reviews, and the time you've taken to read this story!

Stalking through the corridor, Teal'c hot on her heels, Janet's steely glare cleared a path through the other personnel in the hallway more effectively than the presence of a four star general would have. The glare, perfected by years of staring down stubborn patients, was just seconds away from being turned on a certain archeaologist whom, in Janet's expert opinion, should have known better than to aid and abet a fugitive from her infirmary.

Janet and Teal'c had been just about to leave Teal'c's quarters to meet up with Jack and Daniel when the phone had rung. In hushed tones, so as to keep any of the infirmary staff from overhearing, Jack had quickly explained that he had found Sam asleep in Daniel's quarters, safe and sound. Even over the phone, she could tell that he had gotten a kick out of telling her that Daniel was the one responsible for breaking Sam out. At the moment, Janet wasn't sure who she should be more angry with: Daniel for disregarding her medical concerns about Sam, or Jack for setting the bad example that his teammates had apparently taken to following.

Entering the infirmary, Janet's eyes immediately landed on her two potential targets. Seeing the resigned look on Daniel's face made the decision for her; he'd known all along that he would get in trouble for staging this little jail break, but he'd done it anyway.

"You," she stated firmly, pointing at Daniel for emphasis, "My office. Now."

A pleading look at Jack told Daniel that he was on his own with this one. The smug grin on the other man's face promised no help, only a great deal of teasing about this whole mess for a long time to come. Getting to his feet, Daniel spared a glance at Sam, tucked back into an infirmary bed, fast asleep, and nodded to Teal'c, acknowledging his presence. Resigning himself to his fate, Daniel allowed Janet to march him into her office. The resounding door slam confirmed what he'd feared all along: Janet was pissed and wanted no witnesses.

"Of all the stupid, half-baked, downright _insane_ things I have seen you people do, _this_ is by far at the top of the list!" Janet hollered, making Daniel jump. "I'd ask what the hell you were thinking, but it's obvious that you weren't thinking at all, which is why I have spent the last few _hours_ searching the base for one of my patients!"

"Janet…" Daniel interrupted quickly when she paused for breath.

"Don't you 'Janet' me!" she barked.

Daniel snapped his mouth shut and braced himself for what would probably be a _very_ long lecture. Keeping his face as neutral as possible, Daniel settled himself in for the long haul, all the while thinking just how right he'd been in thinking that he would be in trouble.

WHYOHWHYCAN'TIPUTLINEBREAKSINMYSTORY?

Back out in the infirmary, Jack couldn't help but wince as the sound of the door slamming shut shattered the peace of the infirmary. Glancing at his second-in-command, Jack rolled his eyes, advising "You can stop playing possum now Carter, they're going to be in there for a while."

On the bed, one blue eye peeked open for a split second, quickly scanning the room to make sure that Janet was nowhere in sight. Finding that the coast was clear, it opened again, this time along with its partner, squinting slightly under the fluorescent lighting of the infirmary.

"How did you know I wasn't really sleeping?" she asked, disappointed that she hadn't managed to fool him.

"Oh please, you wake up at the first hint of noise or movement," Jack retorted. "No way you'd sleep through being picked up, carried through the base and then put down again, never mind Frasier's snarling and slamming around."

"Indeed, Major Carter," Teal'c intoned, amused yet again by the exploits of his Tau'ri teammates. "It is surprising that Daniel Jackson and Doctor Frasier believed you to still be asleep, knowing you as they do."

"How long have you been awake?" Jack asked, shifting on his stool and bringing a foot up to rest on the bottom rail of her bed.

"I heard you say that I was in bed with Daniel," Sam replied, smirking when Teal'c, having gained a significantly greater understanding of colloquial English than he usually let on, rose an eyebrow.

"Which time?"

"How many times did you say it?"

"Several."

"How did you sound the last time?"

"Relieved."

"The first time," Sam concluded, attempting to sit up in bed.

"I do not believe that would be wise, Major Carter," Teal'c warned, his concerns justified when pain suddenly etched itself across his friend's features, a surprised gasp escaping her lips.

"I'll get a nurse to give you something," Jack declared, jumping to his feet and moving quickly to the far end of the infirmary, ignoring the evil eye he was receiving from most of the infirmary staff.

"I am pleased to see you have been safely returned to Doctor Frasier's care," Teal'c said warmly, taking advantag of his brief time alone with Sam. "The last several days have been most trying."

"I'm sorry I worried you," Sam apologized, reaching out for his hand.

Wrapping his fingers securely around her much smaller hand, Teal'c returned the quick squeeze she offered with a gentle squeeze of his own.

"I know you don't have any idea what I'm talking about," Sam began, trying to focus on the conversation and not on the pain throbbing in her head. "But you saved my life on the Prometheus, and I want to thank you, even if you don't know what I'm thanking you for."

Rather than questioning her, Teal'c opted to simply bow his head in acceptance of her gratitude. Even if he had wanted to inquire, the sound of approaching footsteps would have silenced him. With one last squeeze, he released her hand and turned to face Jack.

"Here you go," Jack announced, tipping two painkillers into Sam's waiting hand and passing her a glass of water to chase them down with. "The nurses all still think I'm the one who broke you out of here, you know. They're pissed at me, but happy to help you. How is _that_ fair?"

Sharing a knowing look with Sam, Teal'c stated simply, "It would seem your reputation speaks for itself, O'Neill." Bowing his head to his two friends, Teal'c took his leave of the infirmary.

"Anything could have happened! What would you have done then _Doctor_ Jackson? Or did you it slip your mind that you're a PhD and not an MD?" the angry voice of Janet Frasier suddenly filled the infirmary, causing both Jack and Sam to wince in sympathy for Daniel. Apparently his beratement at the hands of the diminutive doctor was far from over.

"I'm sorry we worried you, sir," Sam said quietly as Janet's voice faded again. "It was my idea and I should be the one getting yelled at, not Daniel."

"Look Carter," Jack sighed, taking a seat on his stool again. "Yes, you should know better, no one will argue with that. But Daniel was the one who should have been thinking clearly last night, and you never would have made it out of here without his help."

"I asked him because I knew he wouldn't be able to say 'no' to me," she confessed, feeling bad that she had manipulated Daniel. Wanting to look anywhere but at Jack, Sam began picking dejectedly at the blanket that covered her.

"Did last night help?" Jack asked softly. He could practically see the guilt eating away at her and wanted to do his part to ease it.

At his question, Sam looked up sharply. She'd been awake long enough to know that Daniel hadn't had the opportunity to tell Jack what had happened last night, so how could he possibly know?

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist, Carter. _None_ of us would have been able to say 'no' to you, but you asked Daniel, so you clearly wanted to talk about something that was bothering you. Yesterday you were out of sorts, today you're more like yourself. Something happened last night," Jack reasoned, reminding Sam yet again that he was a lot more perceptive than he liked people to believe.

"It helped," she confirmed, meeting his eye.

"And you're okay," Jack stated, cocking his head to one side and examining her for evidence to the contrary.

"And I'm okay," she assured, smiling at his obvious concern for her.

"Then I'm not angry, and once you let Frasier finish making an example out of Daniel, she won't be either."

"Thanks for being here sir," Sam murmured, relieved that he was being so understanding about her latest stunt.

"For you Carter, I'll always be here," he replied flippantly, but something flashed in his eyes for the briefest of moments that told Sam he meant the words with a sincerity that belied his light tone.

In the silence that followed, Sam felt as though she could almost hear the echo of "his" words on the Prometheus. Something in her chest tightened, not because she doubted his promise, but because she realized that "he" had been right – for so many years she had been fixated on the possibility of one day being with Jack, dismissing the possibility of being in a relationship with anyone else on the grounds that their relationship wouldn't withstand it. In thinking this way, she had been selling Jack short, belittling how important her friendship was to him.

"I know you will," she whispered, surprised to find her voice thick with emotion and her vision clouded with tears.

"Hey," he said, concern lacing his words. "It's okay," he soothed, moving from the stool to sit on the side of her bed.

Nodding her head, Sam closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try and regain her composure, It was bad enough that she'd cried all over Daniel last night; she couldn't believe she was actually at risk of doing the same think to Jack just hours later. To her surprise, a warm hand suddenly slipped under her back. Her eyes snapped open at the same moment a second hand came to rest on the back of her head. Shooting a questioning look at Jack, she allowed his hands to ease her up off the bed and into a sitting position.

"C'mere," Jack murmured, pulling her into a tight hug. "It's okay," he repeated.

"You know that bit about me being more like myself today?" Sam sniffled, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Maybe it was a bit premature," Jack conceded, giving her a tight squeeze. "Don't worry about it, you've had a rough couple of days."

Sam knew she should feel embarrassed about crying all over her CO in the middle of the infirmary, where anyone could walk in and see, but right at the moment she couldn't bring herself to care. She felt like she was saying goodbye to the man holding her, as though once they let go, she would be giving him up to try and find happiness with another man. In no rush to bring about an end to this part of her relationship with Jack, she was content to remain in his arms for as long as he would allow. All too soon, however, he was pulling back from her, trying to get a look at her face so that he could gage how she was faring.

"Better?" he asked, seeing that her eyes, though still rimmed with red, were no longer filled with tears.

Nodding carefully so as to avoid further aggravating the pain in her head, Sam couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the wave of disappointment that washed over her as Jack pulled out of her arms and eased her back down onto the bed.

Suddenly uncomfortable with the last few minutes, Jack stood and began looking casually around the room, searching for an excuse to escape before things became awkward. Like any man, Jack hated it when a woman cried, but he always felt most uncomfortable once the tears had subsided. Never sure whether he should go back to discussing the topic that had made her cry in the first place, Jack usually stayed for the tears and then beat as quick a retreat as possible. Sam was no stranger to this habit of his, for although she hadn't often cried in front of him, the handful of times she had done so had all ended the same way.

"You don't have to stay, sir. I know you've got things to do," Sam offered, giving him an out.

"You sure you'll be okay alone?" he asked, grateful that she understood.

"I'll be fine," she assured, smiling gently.

"Okay, Jack decided. "I'll go get some paperwork done, but I'll be back tonight and I expect you to be in that bed, snug as a bug in a rug," he joked warningly.

"Yes sir," she replied, grinning.

As he turned to leave, Sam expected to feel a lot of things, still unable to shake the sense that she was saying goodbye to the man she'd been holding out for all this time. What she didn't expect was to feel happy; ever since last night's conversation with Daniel, Sam had feared that "Jack" had said the things she had wanted him to and not what the real Jack would say. Her conversation with the real Jack, however, had proved that her hallucination had been right: Jack would always be there for her, no matter what. Disappointed in herself, Sam realized just how short she had been selling their friendship for the last few years. She'd become so caught up in thoughts of the relationship she wasn't supposed to have with Jack that she had neglected the friendship they were allowed.

Squirming to get comfortable, Sam resolved to work on strengthening their friendship as best she could.

WHYOHWHYCAN'TIPUTLINEBREAKSINMYSTORY?

"If you ever, _ever_ pull a stunt like this again, so help me I will take every opportunity I get to inflict as much pain as I possibly can on you!" Janet ranted, pacing back and forth behind her desk.

"What are you going to do, use even _bigger_ needles?" Daniel muttered under his breath, hoping that this would be over soon. Janet seemed to be running out of steam, leading Daniel to believe that his wish might soon be granted.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Janet replied, an evil glint in her eye.

That made Daniel sit up straight and pay very close attention. "You mean they actually _make_ bigger needles?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh yes, Daniel, much, much bigger," she retorted gleefully, a grin breaking out on her face.

"Have I mentioned how sorry I am for making you worry?" he tried hopefully, making a bid to get back on her good side.

"Several times."

"Are you almost done yelling at me yet?"

"That depends, how long have I been yelling?"

Consulting his watch, Daniel gave her a rough estimate: "Forty-five minutes, give or take."

"How many times have I threatened you with bodily harm?" Janet asked seriously, enjoying seeing Daniel so desperate to end her lecture.

Running through a mental list, Daniel tallied up the threats, then double-checked his count, knowing that he had the power to end the lecture with his answer. "Twenty. Nineteen if we only count one of the times you threatened to find medical justification to remove all of my toenails."

"Are you going to tell everyone who asks what happened in this room?" Janet questioned, knowing that the base grapevine would spread the word about what happens to those who stage a jailbreak from the infirmary and jeopardize the health of one of her patients.

"Do I have to?" Daniel whined, dreading the thought of confessing to the marines that he'd been cowed by a 5'0 tall girl. At Janet's quirked eyebrow, he heaved a sigh. "Fine, I'll tell everyone who asks. I'll even tell people who _don't_ ask," he added, hoping to seal the deal.

"Then I'd say we're done here," Janet said, flashing Daniel a big smile. "Don't you have work to be doing?"

Rolling his eyes, Daniel stood up and left the office as quickly as he could with his dignity still in tact. Making a beeline for the door, Daniel spared a glance at the bed he'd left Sam in, pleased to see she was sill sleeping peacefully. Relieved to be done with Janet's lecture, Daniel decided to head for his office and try to get some translating done.

_If I can just think of a way to avoid Jack for the next little while_, Daniel thought to himself_. Just until something happens to make him forget how much power the women on this base have over me!_


End file.
